Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-16

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the number of households in the US by their annual income in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The bar graph illustrates the number of house hold along with their annual income in the US in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Over all, the households earning [redacted phone]$ and more increased substantially and became the highest earning groups in 2015. By contrast, the $75000 to $99999 remained the smallest groups through out the period, whereas the middle range income groups slightly changed in three years.

In 2007, the category with income $[redacted phone] and more were just less than 30 millions, which was highest among other income range households. Whereas, household with income range $75000 to $99999 were just less than 15 millions. However, the middle income range households were between 20 millions to just above 25 millions.

In 2011, the group with highest salaries were surpassed by the group of salaries range $25000 to %49999 and group with income less than $25000 which was 30 million and approximately 28 million households. whereas, groups with salary range $50000 to $74999 and $75000 to $99999 remained almost same as of that in 2007.

In 2015, the household with salary range $[redacted phone] and more rose up to more the 30 million, while the other households with annual income remained almost unchanged in 2015.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall pattern: the $100,000-or-more group rises and is largest by 2015, while the $75,000–$99,999 category remains the smallest. You also make relevant comparisons across all three years. However, some details are inaccurate or too general. In 2011, the $25,000–$49,999 group was about 29.5 million, not 30 million, and the $100,000-plus group was about 27.5 million; the response’s wording that the two lower-income groups “surpassed” the highest-salary group is unclear because only the $25,000–$49,999 group did so. The final claim that other categories were “almost unchanged” overlooks the small movements in several groups. Report the key figures more precisely and distinguish stable categories from those that changed modestly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for 2007, 2011 and 2015. This makes the information easy to follow, and time markers help signal progression. The overview also gives the reader a useful guide to the main trends. To make the organisation more effective, group related income bands and compare them directly rather than describing each year in isolation. Some linking is mechanical or unclear: the sentence beginning “Whereas” in the 2007 paragraph is not joined smoothly to the preceding sentence, and “whereas” at the start of the 2011 sentence is not capitalised or clearly connected. More precise references to the categories would also improve flow and reduce repetition of “group” and “households.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “annual income,” “category,” “middle income range,” and “increased substantially,” so the reader can understand the subject and broad trends. There is some variation in how you describe the groups, but word choice and collocation are not consistently controlled. Phrases such as “highest earning groups” and “groups with highest salaries” refer to income bands rather than the households’ earnings as groups, while “rose up to more the 30 million” is awkward. Several labels would be clearer if expressed consistently as income brackets. Spelling and formatting also need attention, including “house hold,” “Over all,” and “through out.” Aim for accurate, concise chart language and use the same terms for each income band throughout.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer sentences with contrast, as in “By contrast…” and “while…,” and the main meaning is generally understandable. However, some errors in agreement, articles, sentence boundaries and comparison structures remain. For example, “the category … were” should use a singular verb, while “household with income range” needs an article or plural form. The 2007 sentence beginning “Whereas” is a fragment, and the 2011 sentence beginning “whereas” is not properly attached to the preceding sentence. There are also awkward constructions such as “remained almost same as of that in 2007.” Check subject–verb agreement and make sure contrast clauses are complete and correctly joined; these changes would improve accuracy while preserving your range of sentence forms.

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